Putin disappointed with growing oil product prices in Russia

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (PRIME) -- President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he is disappointed with growing prices for oil products in Russia and demanded the Federal Antimonopoly Service take control over the issue.

“Some things are raising questions. As of December 1, prices for oil products grew 10%, while international prices fell 35%,” Putin said.

“This is not all, it would not have raised special questions, but the main increase is registered in the retail sector, while in the wholesale sector prices are falling. What is that? Where is the antimonopoly service looking?”

Putin ordered supervisory bodies to constantly monitor prices. “Supervisory authorities with a systematical tracking from you (the Economic Development Ministry) will constantly study the issue in order to not let market participants act in a way that cannot be defined by objective circumstances.”

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said separately the 9.4% growth of gasoline prices in 2014 is caused by the lack of supplies.

“In gasoline, we have a 2% decrease (in physical terms), while in diesel fuel we have a 7% increase. Correspondingly, it influences the price,” he said, adding that diesel fuel prices grew only 5.3% since the start of the year.

According to the Federal Statistics Service, Russian consumer prices rose 8.5% between January 1 as of December 1, while on December 1 alone the consumer prices went up 0.1%.

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